Talk Internal Communication

Now that our own elections are over the build up to the American election is getting interesting. Donald Trump debuts in a first-place tie in Gallup's latest update of Republicans' preferences for the party's 2012 presidential nomination among potential contenders. http://www.gallup.com/poll/147233/Huckabee-Trump-Romney-Pace-GOP-Field-2012.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_term=Politics

Flip  Camera, my trusted toy has seen its last days. I'm upset but I'm sure there will be other products to take its place.  In 2009 Cisco bought Flip. Last week it announced that it plans to discontinue the range. With Cisco experiencing the same financial challenges as many companies it has decided to focus on its core offerings. It believes it has been spreading its offerings too widely. Flip looses out in this decision - even though the product is still making a profit.  Cisco announced this week it will no longer make  Flip  cameras and is pulling back on its consumer product strategy. It is believed that the Kodak will pick up most of the Flip market but   iPhone or Android are also sure to provide an equally good service very shortly. I'm still sad though:(

Just back from EuroComm 2011. Learnt a lot and met some really interesting people. Also presented  own research on internal communication practices in Ireland. You can read my article  on  http://www.simply-communicate.com/news/understanding-language-c-suite .

Many of my friends have been asking recently how to deal with difficult bosses. Previously, during the "celtic tiger" years they may just have got a new job. Now, with employment in a more precarious situation they feel more trapped than before.  So I went exploring and found a little gem of a book called "Working for you, isn't working for me".  An easy read it identifies  the difficult boss characteristics. It also provides a "boss baggage profile" - i.e. what baggage the reader brings to the table and how this can impact on their work relationship. It then outlines coping mechanisms for dealing with each boss depending on the readers baggage profile.  The first few chapters are very interesting -especially when detailing how people  react when a boss relationship begins to deteriorate; replaying the events of the day, trying even harder and becoming nervous etc.  Definitely worth a read on Google Books.

The Harvard Business School has proven the effectiveness of storytelling  to communicate even the most complex issues. But how do we create an effective story. This interview with McKinsey provides some valuable insights.  Good stories have three components: a strong beginning, a strong end, and a point of tension. Most people confuse stories with situations. They’ll tell about a situation:  X happened,  Y  happened,  Z  happened. But a good story takes  Y , the middle part of the story, and creates tension or conflict where the reader or the audience is drawn into the story, what’s going to happen next. Treating stories as assets is an underrealized idea right now. Stories serve as glue to unify communities. Stories spread from employee to employee, from consumer to consumer, and, in some cases, from employee to consumer or consumer to employee. Stories are much more memorable than statistics or simple anecdotes and are a mechanism that allows communities to grow. Strong stories can b